A friend of mine recently wrote her family newsletter and simply posted it on her blog. What a great idea! I don't have to print the letter, stuff envelopes, address them, lick them (YUCK!), and pay an arm and a leg postage to tell everyone I care about that my kids are still growing like weeds!
Summer is here, kinda. Sara and Zack are both out of school, but my younger boys are in year round school, so they have another month. In order to keep me sane, we must keep the children busy. This, however, backfires, and I become a much busier taxi mom.
Sara, 15, has worked hard this past year to improve her vocal skills and it has paid off! She made the Madrigals choir at school, which is the top choir. Only two new girls made it in! To keep Sara vocally busy, she has tried out for the city play, "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Coat." She's in one of the chorus lines! Rehearsals will be four days a week for 3-4 hours at a time. I'll post on FB when we're closer to performance time in case you want to come. It's the first weekend and the entire second week of August. Sara has decided to be a music major in college. Last semester of HS she took a music theory class and I'm very impressed at how much she learned! Sara will also have voice and piano lessons all summer to go along with preparing to be a music major. Just in case that's not enough to keep her busy, if I can, I will enroll Sara in a summer drivers ed class. She'll soon be getting her permit!
Zack, 13, has become quite the drummer! Most of you know that he and a couple friends wrote a musical piece for marimba and zylophone and performed it at the middle school's talent show. He's taking percussion lessons and has improved immensely! Zack is often heard in the back garage beating his heart out to a tune that is being loudly played on a stereo. Most of the neighbors are gone during the day, so hopefully they're not too annoyed! Zack is also preparing for a 50 mile hike with the scouts at the end of August, so he has been hiking and will be hiking a lot! Some are just day hikes while others are over night hike in type of things. We have some amazing scout leaders!
Zack and Sara are both too young to have a summer job, so we work for a friend at the Salt Lake Farmer's Market selling jam one or two Saturdays a month June-October. It makes for pretty crazy weekends, but it provides an income for my kids who wish they had more money!
Elijah, 9, is still loved by the girls at school. LOL! He's a little sweetheart. Except that he's really tall! (His current girlfriend is an entire head shorter than he is!) Elijah runs super fast. Last year I enrolled him in track & field and he took first or second place in just about every event. He's decided to participate again so he'll start next week! Even though track meets take about three hours to get through all the events, I love to watch Elijah run like the wind. He is also very good at the long jump. Last year they wanted him to compete in the next age group up because he could jump so far. Eli is also enjoying the Cub Scout program and will hopefully be taking swimming lessons after track & field is over.
Joshua, 7, is finishing up his second soccer season and is loving it! He's a very big kid and will be a great goalie someday. In his current age group, they don't have them play positions, so he's simply learning to block the ball without his hands, but he's doing a great job! It's hard for him to keep up with some of the players, but he scored a goal a couple weeks ago! Yeah, Josh! Josh will also be taking swimming lessons later this summer. This is my last year before Josh is more involved in after school activities. Next January he will be a Cub Scout, too!
Matt has gone back to school! Western Governor's University is exactly what Matt needs to get his Bachelor's Degree. In case that and work aren't enough to keep him busy, Matt has decided to do a triathlon. There's a "sprint" triathlon this fall in Daybreak that he's training for. The new Rec Center not far from our home has allowed Matt to cross train, so he's becoming a runner, learning how to swim, and will be taking some spin classes!
This year has been great! It's my first year with my kids all in school all day. I've been able to take naps when I need them and I'm working on reorganizing the whole house. YIKES! The projects never end. I'm also enjoying time at the new Rec Center. I've been working on a Couch to 5K program on my ipod. Much of my time is spent driving to and from where ever the kids need to be, but it's so much fun to see them discover new talents and then excel in them!
Many years ago Matt and I hoped that as the kids got older, we'd be able to attract the teenagers to our house. That has been the case and we're very pleased! It helps to see who the kids friends are and provide a safe and fun environment for them. This weekend we're having two end of year parties at my house. One for the HS kids, and the other for the middle school kids. We haven't had any huge parties, but it's been a lot of fun. The one tonight is almost over. Tomorrow night, we'll be putting a fire in the pit and roasting hot dogs and marshmallows! I think it'll be a lot of fun.
